The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
This verse is one line in a family register: after Rachel's death, the account pauses to list Jacob's twelve sons by their mothers. Rachel's share is two names, Joseph and Benjamin, and they carry far more weight in Scripture than this brief mention suggests.
Rachel's Place in the Family
Rachel was the wife Jacob loved first. Yet she was the last of the four mothers to bear children. One writer sees that order as deliberate:
William KellyIt appears that Rachel was the first beloved wife, but in fact the last to enjoy the relationship and bear its fruits. Joseph was rejected by his brothers and exalted in another sphere over Gentiles. Benjamin was his mother's sorrow, but son of his father's right hand. Before this Leah is the mother of many sons, as there are before Israel comes into full and happy view.
Two Brothers, One Picture of Christ
Neither son alone gives the full picture of Christ. One writer shows what each adds:
L. M. GrantGod answered Rachel's prayer at last, and she gave birth to Joseph, whose name means "adding," because she was confident that God would add another son to her. Joseph is plainly a type of Christ. Yet Joseph gives us only one side of the truth concerning Christ, that is, that He was a Sufferer before being exalted. This is most important for us all to learn. Only then are we in any condition to appreciate the truth seen in Benjamin. He is a type of Christ as the Son of the Father's right hand, glorified and exalted to the throne, reigning in glory.
Where each brother was born adds to the contrast:
William KellyIn due time the barren one bears Joseph, who pictures Christ rejected and exalted, but making Himself known to His brothers at last. She also bears Benjamin, the only one born in the land, son of his mother's sorrow but of his father's right hand. Benjamin brings millennial power before us, as Joseph does its blessing.
The Son of Sorrow, the Son of the Right Hand
Two parents named Benjamin at the same moment, and the place matters:
An Outline of Sound WordsThe dying Rachel called the child Benoni (Son of my sorrow), but Jacob called him Benjamin (Son of the right hand). Near Bethlehem, the true Son of the Right Hand would come into the world. There Jacob shows his faith in God by the name he gave his son. Jacob's deepest joys seemed to close at that place. Yet that same place would secure his brightest hopes, in the Baby to be born at Bethlehem.
The Padan-aram Puzzle
The closing line of this list says these sons were born in Padan-aram — the country Jacob had left, far outside the promised land. Yet chapter 35 has just described Benjamin's birth on the road to Bethlehem. One writer answers that the statement describes the family as a whole, not each name in it:
J. N. DarbyThe main fact which characterized the family was their birth away from the land of promise, in the country where Jacob served for a wife. There was no need to make an exception of Benjamin in the statement; the aim was to give the accurate history of his birth. And this was no mistake: the writer had just given all the details of Benjamin's birth, and speaks in the passage itself of Jacob being in that land.
Why the Names Are Written Down at All
The list comes right after Reuben's sin against his father — not a flattering moment for the family. One writer finds that placement moving, not awkward:
William KellyThe listing of the family is moving at this point in the story. No human being will boast. Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. Yet God takes pleasure in recording their names. He does so early and late in the Old Testament, and at last in the final book of the New Testament, but with instructive variations. For the Bible is not only God's word. It is a deeply moral book, and those who make the mind their all discern little of that.
Another writer notes that the register calls the father Jacob here, not Israel:
L. M. GrantWe are then told the names of the sons of Jacob — not called Israel in this case. His sons are to be known simply as coming from the same sin-infected stock as their father. Despite this inherited sinful nature, God had ordained that the twelve tribes of the nation Israel were to come from these twelve men. They were not chosen because they were any better than others.
Summary
- Sorrow. Rachel named her last son from her dying grief — Benoni, son of my sorrow — and the grief came near Bethlehem.
- Right hand. Jacob refused that name. He called him Benjamin, son of the right hand, and showed his faith where his deepest joys seemed to close.
- Two sons, one Christ. Joseph shows the Sufferer afterwards exalted; Benjamin shows the reign in glory. Neither name alone tells the whole story.
- Inside the land. Joseph was born far from the promised land, Benjamin alone within it. Joseph pictures the blessing; Benjamin pictures the power.
- Recorded by grace. The twelve are listed right after a family disgrace. They are named as sons of "Jacob," not Israel — not chosen for merit, yet God takes pleasure in writing their names down.